The present invention is directed to a hand test set and in particular to a test set having a channel receiving a connecting line, wherein the channel has a structure that provides strain relief at a connection of a connecting line and an input/output interface of the test set.
A telephone test set must provide an input/output interface, i.e., a connection point whereby a transmitter and/or a receiver and related electronic circuits of the telephone test set can be connected to a telephone line or network to be tested. A receptacle can be provided as the input/output interface The receptacle is designed to receive a standard telephone line-plug to which connecting lines are coupled. One such standard receptacle is adapted to receive an RJ-11 modular plug. Such a plug/receptacle configuration provides for easy connection and disconnection of a given connection line to the hand test set. In one test set, the input/output interface is a receptacle which is disposed along an outer perimeter of a casing of the test set. The receptacle or jack for the RJ-11 plug is provided at this position.
Despite the accessibility of the plug-receptacle connection and the ease with which it can be changed, there are disadvantages in this configuration. The RJ-11 modular plug provides a weak connection in the sense that it is susceptible to damage from mechanical strain. When mechanical strain is applied to the connecting line connected to the plug, the plug can become disengaged from the receptacle and/or the connecting line can be disengaged from the plug. Occurrences of line strain are common in the use of hand test sets, given the frequency of use and the environment in which they are used, i.e., field testing of telephone lines and network equipment.